Domaine de la Chapelle de Vâtre is a privately owned vineyard in the Beaujolais hills producing high quality Burgundy and Beaujolais wines in the traditional way, including harvesting the grapes by hand.

The vineyard has just over 10 hectares of vines producing Gamay, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes, which produce about 60,000 litres of wine in a typical year.  Vâtre produces five wines, including:

Beaujolais Villages AOC, a typical Beaujolais, light and fruity for drinking between 2 and 7 years after harvesting;

Fleurie Cru, from the Gamay grape, which is hand picked.  Following vinification a percentage, which varies from year to year, is matured in traditional French oak barrels for approximately 8 months prior to bottling;

Also from the Gamay grape we produce an appellation controlled Rosé wine.

From the Chardonnay grape we produce a Bourgogne Blanc AOC.

The vineyard also produces Pinot Noir grapes usually used together with a small percentage of Chardonnay to produce a Crémant de Bourgogne AOC using the traditional Champenoise method.

The vinification of the wine is carried out in our own modern cuvage at the Domaine under the watchful eye of Gino Bertolla, who is a well-known Beaujolais winemaker with some 45 years experience in Burgundy and Beaujolais wines.

In addition we use the expertise of an English Master of Wines, Andrea Hargrave, for the final selection of the wine for bottling and blending.  Andrea is very experienced in creating wines which meet the expectations of British consumers.

 

 

The Vines

Vâtre was rebuilt in the late 1990’s.  At that time the vineyards that surround the Domaine, were renovated installing drainage to prevent erosion, re-planting and building a new, state-of-the-art winery and laboratory.  The wine making equipment was all renewed including air-conditioning, a chilling plant and an overhead, pneumatic membrane grape press.

Vâtre passed into its present ownership in 2013.  Since then, considerable changes have been made to the mix of the types of vine on the estate.

An additional 2.8 hectares of vines have been purchased in Fleurie enabling the vineyard to produce and sell its own Fleurie Cru.

The amount of Gamay production has been reduced to 3.4 hectares and is dedicated to the production of Beaujolais Villages and Rosé wine.

The Chardonnay planting has been increased to 3.4 hectares and in 2016 was granted the Appellation Bourgogne Blanc.  

Finally, 0.6 hectares of Pinot Noir, planted in 2014, have now reached maturity.

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The terroir

The Domaine now comprises 10.07  hectares of vines. 

The characteristics of the terroir are typical of North Beaujolais with granite, sand and moderate slopes.  The Chardonnay planting has a higher level of clay, ideal for this type of grape.

The drainage system has been further improved across the vineyard from the work that was done in the late 1990's